


Only The Brave Wear Pink (When Asking Someone To Spy For Them)

by pinkys_creature_feature



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Eames is in the FBI, First Meetings, Kinda? It goes a different direction than you would think, M/M, POV Change, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-17
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2019-06-28 13:59:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15708654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkys_creature_feature/pseuds/pinkys_creature_feature
Summary: Eames is sent from the FBI to watch Cobb and bring back evidence of his underhanded dealings.





	Only The Brave Wear Pink (When Asking Someone To Spy For Them)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aja/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Pink is the new kind of lingo](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7233433) by [Aja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aja/pseuds/Aja). 



> This is for the lovely Aja! I'm sorry this is a few days late, I'm stupid and misread the dates! I hope it was worth the wait!

  
  


Three weeks. That was how long Eames has been mulling around an unassuming Starbucks. 

 

The lead agent, Saito, had put him on this job and Eames planned to do his damnedest to bring in the evidence they needed to bring down Dominic Cobb. The charges against the man ranged from tax fraud and embezzlement to possibly trafficking in a new “dream drug” called solminac. 

 

He made sure to blend in as he watched Cobb come and go from the coffee shop. He spied through the racks of the overpriced hipster store across the road as Cobb seemed to be giving an employee afirm talking to. Eames had seen the kid around, he seemed to work almost every day. Eames hesitated to call the man a ‘kid’, even though he looked to barely be in his twenties, something about the way the man carried himself that screamed ‘I am an adult not a freshman in college.’ 

 

He continued rummaging through the racks when the shop staff started paying him too much attention. In the end he found a delightfully horribled polka dot tie that would look devine with his pink shirt, that he just couldn’t leave. 

 

Eames stepped out of the hipster boutique and made a slow lap around the block, watching the coffee shop closely.  

 

Cobb had apparently finished with the employee, the dark haired man stood behind the counter, adjusting his already immaculate tie and apron. Eames slipped into the outdoor seating, choosing a table where some environmentally conscious college student had left their cup on the table. He dug into his bag and pulled out his laptop, angling himself where he could almost see the back office. To anyone else he looked just like another customer. 

 

Eames relaxed for a bit, sending updates back to Saito as he observed. 

 

*************

 

It had been five weeks since Eames had been assigned this job and he had come up with frustratingly little in the way of evidence. Saito was expecting more and Eames didn’t want to disappoint. 

 

He was baffled by how Cobb could be so bumbling but yet leave so little hard evidence of what he was doing. Eames had his money on the french woman Cobb had taken up with. She was the only one smart enough to cover all their tracks. 

 

Eames needed an eye on the inside. Someone who could get him in to look at the books. 

 

The first thought he had was the slim dark haired man that Cobb always seemed to be bitching at, Arthur. Eames had yet to approach the man, only gleaning his name from the gossip of other workers. 

 

Apparently Arthur had been trying to become a manager at the store and no one could figure out why Cobb kept shooting him down. Eames could tell you why; Arthur had a sharp mind and was far too good at catching discrepancies for Cobb to want him that close to the books. 

 

    Arthur could be very useful to Eames. It didn’t hurt that Arthur was very sexy when he scowled, in a ‘might kiss you within an inch of your life, might rip your windpipe out through your ear.’ kind of way.    

 

He tried to wait for the right time to approach Arthur but the man had no life whatsoever. He worked almost every day, went home, spent hours on the computer looking at jobs or jacking off, before going to bed. Rinse and repeat. Eames almost felt sorry for him. Arthur seemed to be an intelligent, competent worker but struggled to get out of a job in a freaking Starbucks. 

 

    Eames knew he couldn’t just waltz in and ask Arthur to be his inside man so he decided to try and befriend him. 

 

    He had spent the night trying to put together an outfit that didn’t scream “I’m an FBI agent.” Finally he settled on something that said “yes, I know this is ugly and that is why I love it.” Surely Arthur had enough of a sense of humor to not take his bright colors and clashing patterns too seriously.  He even figured his clothes should match his order, just for fun. He had been seeing those pink drinks around and he was going to wear a lot of pink tomorrow. 

 

The next afternoon Eames didn’t notice the large amount of people wandering around with pink drinks as he waited outside the Starbucks for the crowd to clear. He knew Cobb was in the back of the store, probably in the office, leaving Arthur alone in the store. 

 

It took nearly an hour for the last customer to leave. Eames loosened his tie and ruffled his hair to make himself less assuming. Eames approached the counter, seeing just how attractive Arthur was up close for the first time. 

 

Eames grinned as he ordered a pink drink, even repeating his order, sure that he was being totally fucking adorable. What he wasn’t expecting was for Arthur to snap. 

 

    He was stunned as  Arthur took off his green apron and told Eames to make his own drink with the venom that people usually hear when they were being told to go fuck themselves. 

 

    Eames quickly assessed this unexpected outcome and decided that more cheek was in order to get Arthur to relax. So Eames vaulted over the counter and started making the drink himself as Arthur stared slack jawed to the side. 

 

“You can’t be back here.” Arthur protested weakly. 

 

“Sure I can. You’re leaving right? And you did tell me to make it myself.” Eames could see the veins on Arthur’s temple stand out and he clenched his jaw. ( Point 1 for Eames.) 

 

Eames whistled as he started placing things in the blender, he grinned as Arthur insisted on starting the blender “for safety reasons.” More like control freak. (Point 2 for Eames.) 

 

Immediately after Arthur dragged him hard on his outfit. (1 point Arthur, 2 points Eames.) Eames feigned shock, giving Arthur a story about being at a child's birthday. Obviously Arthur had no idea what wearing something for the irony of it meant. 

 

Eames teased Arthur, insisting on things in his order that he hadn’t initially asked for, finally seeing some of the standoffish shell peel away. 

 

He could feel Arthur watching him as he offered to ring himself up. Eames was pleased to see that he was right on predicting Arthur’s orientation. He was really adorable when aggravated, Arthur’s brow furrowed as he tried to squeeze past Eames. 

 

The area behind the counter was ever so tight, not that it bothered Eames one bit to have Arthur pressed against him. 

 

"What's a wiry, bitter thing like you doing behind the counter at a place like this?" Eames hummed. He could swear Arthur’s ears turned as pink as the drink he was mixing.

 

"Getting your order instead of dashing it in your face and walking out like I planned. The least you could do is shut up and stand back and give me some fucking room." Arthur hissed, reaching around Eames to reach something Eames could care less about. He didn’t move a inch, acting like he hadn’t heard Arthur at all. 

 

"You don't ever taste any of these drinks you make for other people, do you? Is it really all that much work and no play? It's a Starbucks, for god's sakes, not Wall Street." Arthur glared at him as Eames grabbed the bottle of syrup and poured it himself. 

“Fuck off.” Arthur grumbled, aggressively pressing the button on the blender. “Let me guess,” Arthur started, having to raise his voice, “This is the part where I snap and tell you that you don't know anything about me, and you say, oh, but wouldn't you like to, and then I take you back to my place and fuck you, because there's no way in hell I'd go back to yours, and maybe we hit it off or maybe we don't, but after a few fucks or a few weeks you're bored with what a cliched millennial stereotype I am, and I'm ready to try out all those first-person shooter skills on you in real life, because all that quirky charm you used to get me into bed masks a shallowness I find intolerable and a wardrobe that needs to be burned in oil, and you decide we should just call it quits before we wind up regretting the whole thing. But why don't we just make our lives easier by regretting it now?”

 

Arthur grabbed the carafe, sloshing the pink sludge into a plastic cup. Eames stood a bit shocked at Arthur’s reaction to his teasing. 

 

    "Either way," he ended, shoving the straw into the cup, "we'll always have the goddamn pink drink from Starbucks." 

 

    Eames took the offered drink and slipped the straw between Arthur’s lips. He bit back a moan as he watched Arthur’s lips slowly wrap around the straw, taking one drink, and then another, his dark eyelashes fluttering closed. Eames wondered if he would look this content with something else in his mouth. The whimper that followed made Eames’ cock twitch in his pants. 

 

    "Aren't you forgetting something?" Eames asked, his voice creeping down in octave. 

 

    “What?” Arthur asked. 

 

    “My name,” Eames teased, “You’re supposed to write it on the cup.” 

 

    Eames knew something was amiss when the blush fled from Arthur’s cheeks. Following Arthur’s eyes he glanced over his shoulder to see Cobb standing there squinting disapprovingly. Suddenly Eames remembered what he had come here for. 

 

    “Dom,” Arthur stuttered. “I was just…”

 

    “‘Just what’?” Dom asked, looking far too smarmy and smug, like he had been looking for a reason to get rid of Arthur. 

 

    "I was — showing my boyfriend around," Arthur blurted, linking his arm with Eames. Eames took the hint and gave Cobb a friendly smile. 

 

    “Your boyfriend,” Cobb didn’t seem to believe him. 

 

    “Cobb you know I’m gay.” Arthur offered. 

"Since when do you have time to have a boyfriend?" Cobb snorted, “You’re alway here.” 

 

“Since I met...Pavel... Pavel Nikolaevich." Arthur glanced at Eames, with a look that screamed ‘Help a dude out.’ “He’s Russian.” 

 

Eames gave Arthur a nod and laid on his best accent giving a BS story as he wrapped a familiar arm around Arthur’s waist and sneaking the key ring Arthur had laid on the counter back in his pocket.

 

"Just taking a bit of a break, Dom." Eames was a but shocked as Arthur slipped an arm around his neck. "Sorry about the apron, won't happen again."

  
  


Cobb seemed to be placated and insisted that it not happen again before slipping back into the office. 

 

    “So Arthur is it?” Eames purred sliding back into his natural accent as he pulled Arthur more firmly against his body.

 

    “I didn’t catch your name.” Arthur pointed out holding the pink drink.

 

    Eames chuckled as Arthur pulled a sharpie from his pocket. “Meet me after your shift and you  can catch much more.” 

  
  


*************

 

Eames stood next to his car outside, waiting for Arthur to finish closing. He stood straighter as Arthur slipped out the door and locked it. 

 

“How about a drink?” Eames offered, wrapping his arms around Arthur. He wasn’t able to resist brushing his lips against Arthur’s, mission be damned. 

 

“That sounds amazing,” Arthur hummed, leaning in to deepen the kiss. Eames could still taste the remainder of the pink drink on Arthur's lips.

 

    Eames only let himself enjoy the kiss for a moment before stepping away. He ushered Arthur into his car. 

 

    On the way to the bar is when Eames dropped the bomb. His palms slick with sweat on the steering wheel. For the millionth time that night He had second thoughts. Would Arthur believe him? Demand to be let out of the car right then and disappear? Would he tell Cobb? There were so many possible ways this could go wrong. 

Eames waited until they pulled up to a stop light, Arthur’s skin seemed to glow in the streetlights. He cleared his throat and took his chance. 

 

    “I need your help to find dirt on Cobb.” Eames confessed. Arthur looked over at him with a look of utter confusion. “I’m a FBI agent. I was sent here to find evidence on Cobb to help prove that he is committing fraud. Several types of fraud.”  He told Arthur what he could about the case. Arthur sat in shocked silence for far longer that Eames would have liked. 

 

    “So all of this is an act?” Arthur asked quietly, turning to look out the window. Eames felt like a door had been slammed in his face. 

 

    “Absolutely not.” Eamed explained reaching for Arthur's hand. “If I wanted to I could have gotten a warrant and got in that way.”

 

    “Why me?” Arthur asked, his fingers gently brushing against Eames’ palm.

 

    “You looked like you could use a little excitement. And you were in the perfect spot. Not to mention you are rather fetching.” Eames gave his best flirty wink but it fell flat.

 

    “Why would I help you? If Cobb goes down I am out of a job.” Arthur gestured to Eames that they light had changed, but Eames didn’t move.

 

    “What if I promise you reward money and the chance at a job with the agency? Also just think of the feeling you would have watching Cobb be carried away in handcuffs.” Eanes offered. 

 

    Arthur squeezed Eames’ hand and thought for a moment. “Buy me a drink and we can talk.”

 

*************

 

Arthur was working the day they came to arrest Cobb, Eames made sure of that. Cobb sputtered and called out for Arthur to help him as Eames pressed his face into the counter. Arthur’s eyes glittered with mirth as Cobb was dragged from the store kicking and screaming. 

 

Arthur had accepted Eames offer and a few nights later he snuck into the office to take pictures of financial reports as well as documents that Cobb had altered. 

 

They had tumbled into bed, laughing and pulling each others clothes off when Eames and him met later. 

 

Eames was a man of his word. The FBI compensated Arthur for the work he had done and offered him a job if he was able to complete the academy. Eames had no doubt that Arthur could do it, in the short time he knew the man he had proven himself smart, quick on his feet, and fiercely principled. 

 

Once Eames finished booking Cobb and was able to slip away he found Arthur was waiting in his hotel room, wearing nothing but his green apron, holding a pink drink. 

 

Eames chuckled dropping his bag as he wrapped Arthur in his arms. “We got him.” Eames whispered. 

 

“Good.” Arthur, kissed Eames quickly before stepping back. “I think I am going to take the job. I leave for the academy in a few weeks. What is going to happen to… you know… us?” He asked awkwardly. 

 

Eames slipped his hand over Arthur’s firm bottom, giving it a playful squeeze. “Well whatever happens, we'll always have the pink drink.” 


End file.
